The Director of Resources introduced a report on the Council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which set out the financial implications of the Council’s Corporate Plan and how this could be funded over the period of five years. Each year, the Council was required by law to approve a balanced budget, where gross expenditure was matched by available resources. The MTFS set out the guiding principles and considerations to deliver a balanced budget.

The Interim Director of Finance elaborated on the report’s content, and the proposed MTFS 2022/23 to 2026/27, which provided a robust, consistent, and sustainable approach to establishing and maintaining a stable and prudent financial basis on which the Council’s services were to be delivered.

The MTFS was one of the key strategies of the Council and the five-year strategy set out the Council’s commitment to providing services that both met the needs of people locally and represented good value for money.

The MTFS identified a structural deficit for the five-year period covered. Upon the budget balancing for 2022/23 this structural deficit was removed based on latest estimates. The Council would need to save £27m, 8.3% of the net spend of the Council for the first year of the MTFS, 2022/23 to achieve a balanced budget.

Contained within the MTFS were indicative figures for financial years 2022/23 to 2026/27; these figures would change in line with a number of factors, including confirmation of the government’s forthcoming funding settlement for 2022/23 (expected in mid-December), which in turn would inform the budget proposals made by this Committee for consideration by full Council in February 2022.

The Interim Director and Chief Executive responded to a number of comments from Members. With regard to the benchmarking of public health grants with comparator authorities, the Chief Executive agreed to ask the Director of Public Health to provide a written response on this. 

Members spoke of the opportunities to transform services over the lifetime of this MTFS and the need for all political groups on the Council to work together for the benefit of Wirral’s residents.

On a motion by the Chair, seconded by Councillor Yvonne Nolan, it was -

Resolved - That the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2022/23 to 2026/27, be approved.